About the Author

My name is Suraj Pangal; I am a 12th grader At Monte Vista High School in California. I have always been very interested in law from a very young age. To explore that interest, in 2019, I interned with the former D.A. of Santa Clara (who currently has a private firm) and assisted in defending a suspect charged with double homicide. Most recently, I interned with a defense attorney based in San Francisco. I helped him and audited his legal proceedings with a client who was a suspected MS-13 gang member charged with racketeering and assault under the RICO statute. I also partook in the reversal and renegotiation of an unfair plea deal that a client had taken due to previous ineffective legal counsel. These experiences have taught me about justifiable homicide, plea deals, motions to suppress evidence, organized crime, the prosecution's use of mens rea, and castle doctrine in California. My experience assisting these attorneys confirmed that my interest and future lie in the field of law. In my free time, I make weekly blog posts analyzing some of the world's most exciting trials. 

After diving into the world of jurisprudence, I began venturing into the world of law-making. I started participating in my local student government, but soon, I began branching out to larger offices to understand the law-making process. In the summer of 2022, I started an internship with the Deputy Mayor of the City of San Ramon. In this internship, I led a research campaign to determine constituents' feelings toward expanded housing and land use within the city. During that summer, I also began working as a Legislative Intern at the Office of Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. As an intern, I worked on establishing a program to help increase the engagement of young, low-income constituents and allow them to participate in assembly-run events/opportunities without worrying about the financial burden it may bring. Furthermore, I proposed multiple pieces of legislation, including a bill to create a five-year washout period for California's Three Strikes Law and a bill to encourage alternatives to incarceration.

My involvement in law and politics has led me to start my most recent endeavor, PeerLegal. PeerLegal is an organization that created a platform for people to get free legal advice from lawyers and peers. This website will provide a place for people from low socioeconomic backgrounds to receive high-quality legal assistance at no cost.